An­oth­er sum­mer day, an­oth­er En­her­tu up­date.

The As­traZeneca-Dai­ichi Sankyo an­ti­body-drug con­ju­gate has passed an­oth­er tri­al, this time a Phase III tri­al test­ing the can­cer drug ver­sus physi­cian’s choice in pa­tients with HER2-pos­i­tive metasta­t­ic breast can­cer.

The DES­TINY-Breast02 study beat out the oth­er treat­ments — trastuzum­ab/capecitabine or la­p­a­tinib/capecitabine — in im­prov­ing pro­gres­sion-free sur­vival and a sec­ondary end­point, over­all sur­vival.

Fol­low­ing a land­mark da­ta drop at AS­CO ear­li­er this sum­mer, En­her­tu has gone on a win­ning streak, in­clud­ing two la­bel ex­pan­sions this month — HER2-low metasta­t­ic breast can­cer and pre­vi­ous­ly treat­ed HER2-mu­tant metasta­t­ic non-small cell lung can­cer.

The UK Big Phar­ma did not dis­close any oth­er de­tails of the ap­prox­i­mate­ly 600-pa­tient tri­al, oth­er than say­ing no new safe­ty con­cerns popped up, con­sis­tent with pre­vi­ous late-stage tri­als of the drug.

“In­ter­sti­tial lung dis­ease (ILD) rates and sever­i­ty were con­sis­tent with those ob­served in oth­er metasta­t­ic breast can­cer tri­als of En­her­tu, with a low rate of Grade 5 ILD events ob­served as de­ter­mined by an in­de­pen­dent ad­ju­di­ca­tion com­mit­tee,” the com­pa­ny said in its re­lease.

“As this is the con­fir­ma­to­ry tri­al for our cur­rent breast can­cer in­di­ca­tion in Eu­rope and sev­er­al oth­er coun­tries, we look for­ward to shar­ing these find­ings with reg­u­la­to­ry au­thor­i­ties to add to the body of da­ta for En­her­tu for the treat­ment of HER2-pos­i­tive metasta­t­ic breast can­cer,” Dai­ichi Sankyo glob­al head of R&D Ken Takeshi­ta said in a state­ment.

The news comes just days af­ter Dai­ichi Sankyo cleared a ma­jor lit­i­ga­tion hur­dle, with Seagen los­ing an ar­bi­tra­tion dis­pute with the com­pa­ny over its ADC tech.

Dupixent, the blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug from Sanofi and Regeneron, has cleared a high-stakes Phase III study in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the companies announced Thursday morning.

If they hold up in a second, identical trial, the data pave the way for Dupixent to become the first biologic to treat patients whose COPD remains uncontrolled despite being on maximal standard-of-care inhaled therapy — the patient population studied in the pivotal program. The companies had spotlighted this as a key readout as they look to expand the Dupixent franchise and explore its full potential.

Incyte touted an accelerated approval for its PD-1 retifanlimab in a rare skin cancer on Wednesday, roughly a year and a half after the drug suffered a rejection in squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCAC).

Retifanlimab, marketed as Zynyz, was approved for metastatic or recurrent locally advanced Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a fast-growing skin cancer typically characterized by a single, painless nodule. It’s roughly 40 times rarer than melanoma, according to the nonprofit Skin Cancer Foundation — but incidence is growing, particularly among older adults, Incyte said in its announcement.

Novartis is calling off a UK-based trial for Leqvio in the primary prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with high cholesterol, the company confirmed on Wednesday.

The Swiss pharma giant made the decision after “careful evaluation,” a spokesperson told Endpoints News via email. The trial, dubbed ORION-17, was planned in partnership with England’s National Health Service (NHS) and was part of the company’s strategy to establish Leqvio as a standard of care in cardiovascular disease management.